


It's Superman!

by davidmann95



Category: Superman (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, New 52
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 17:26:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davidmann95/pseuds/davidmann95
Summary: Heading back to Earth from deep space, Superman is drawn into one of the strangest cosmic odyssies of his life.(Written as a comic script rather than prose)





	It's Superman!

**Author's Note:**

> Some of you might know me from my Tumblr, davidmann95; I posted a Superman script there awhile back, and it occurred to me recently it would be worth seeing what kind of feedback it gets here. So right upfront, this is written as a comic script directed to a theoretical artist rather than the sort of prose stories that make up the significant majority of the site.
> 
> Some necessary background first: I actually came up with the idea for this story about two years ago, and got the first several pages of it done back then. It was at the height of people being just absolutely hopping-mad furious about the New 52 Superman over seemingly everything - this is when people were seriously complaining about him charging into a base to beat up a gaggle of cyborg Neo-Nazis experimenting on kidnapped runaways because they screamed “No, you fool!”, because Superman wouldn’t be that BRASH, you guys, and he should have immediately guessed they meant the runaways were mutants with dangerous superpowers, as opposed to just regular old “waah, waah, we’re Nazis, please don’t beat the hell out of us Superman, waah”. I had an idea for how to address that discontent with a plot idea I particularly wanted to see, only for the comics to do a vaguely-related take on the same idea soon anyway; I decided to write this up as an alternative. And given this story was spiritually dependent on being about THIS version of Superman at THIS moment in time, and he’s since been killed, replaced, and merged/retconned, I don’t feel particularly worried that I’m ‘giving away’ a perfectly good plot idea.
> 
> For reference’s sake, this is supposed to be the New 52 Superman, returned to some kind of recognizable status quo; Lois & Clark never happened and Truth tidied itself up in a way that’s left him with his powers and identity intact, and the relationship with Diana is a thing of the (recent) past; basically, take this as what Superman Rebirth #1 would be if they’d stayed the course with this guy instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. And he’s got the current Reborn-era outfit so he doesn’t look like a total doof; maybe visualize that he still has the diamond-shaped end to the cape and those red highlights on the sleeve and neck though for the sake of some visual distinction for the purposes of what I’m doing here. And as far as visualizing goes, while I originally pictured this in an ideal world as being drawn by Chris Sprouse, the way the script actually shook out I’m kind of seeing Jon-Davis Hunt. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Cover: A classic 14-step “infinite staircase” carved out of rock.A landscape of rock is visible behind it, with a black sky filled with stars on the horizon. On the step closest to the reader are two versions of Superman, one wearing the ‘classic’ uniform on the left, one wearing the current outfit on the right; they are talking, the New 52/Rebirth Superman turning his head as he walks up to talk to the classic version behind him. On the next step to the right is Superman during his t-shirt and jeans period (he, along with all subsequent Supermen except for the previous two mentioned, are walking ‘up’ the steps). Going clockwise from there on each step until circling back around are the Superman of Red Son, the Electric Blue Superman, the Flashpoint Superman, the Injustice Superman, Superboy Prime, the Kingdom Come Superman, the Superman of Batman Beyond, the old-school “Earth-Two” Superman by the time of Crisis On Infinite Earths/Infinite Crisis (grey hair around the temples), the original Golden Age Superman of Action Comics #1, the Superman of the Fleischer serials, President Superman from Multiversity, and the golden Superman Prime of DC One Million, looping back around to ‘classic’ Superman and completing the circle.

PAGE 1 Four horizontal panels.

Panel 1: Deep space, a pattern of stars across the blackness. A single thin streak of blue light is cutting through the center of it.  
CLARK (narration): On the other side of the lightspeed barrier as I head back towards Earth through the Oort Cloud, there’s not typically much that can grab my attention.  
CLARK (narration) (2): Usually all that stands out from there are black holes – little pockmarks of dead space, old lights in the sky collapsing in on themselves to keep holding on.

Panel 2: Zooming in closer on the streak of light, we can now see that it’s an ice comet.  
CLARK (narration): But on the furthest edges of my awareness, a tinny rasping carried through the molecules floating in an endless vacuum, that nothing else could even register…  
CLARK (narration) (2): …a heartbeat.

Panel 3: Pretty close to the comet now. We can make out the vague impressions of hills and shining, beautiful ice landscapes.  
CLARK (narration): The temperatures out here are under -200°C on the dark side. There’s no air. The radiation would cook a human from the inside out. This isn’t the most popular rest stop.

Panel 4: Close on the comet now. Streaking down is a transparent red blur with the faint imprint of a yellow shape in it.  
CLARK (narration): Usually when I see something like this, it’s some younger race taking its first steps into the universe and stumbling, or maybe a lost traveler with a clunker for a hyperdrive.  
CLARK (narration) (2): Whatever it is, someone’s out here alone, on the edge of nothingness…

PAGE 2: One big panel in the upper left corner (Panel 1), with two to the right of it (2, 3), and two under those 3 panels (4, 5). 

Panel 1: BIG shot of Superman landing forcefully, his cape flapping up above him as he comes down with his knees bent, arms out at either side to brace for trouble if any should come. His face is calm, serious if there’s a problem but not wanting to alarm anyone.  
TITLE CAPTION: Rocked from the doomed planet Krypton, he developed fantastic powers on Earth far beyond those of humankind! Raised as Clark Kent to stand for truth and justice, he is SUPERMAN…  
CLARK (narration): …and maybe I can help.

Panel 2: Facing him from his left side, he’s squinting a bit, bemused and a touch annoyed. Teeny-tiny inset panel around where his line of vision would meet the end of the panel, of a small red dot on the ground, glowing.  
CLARK (small text): Atmosphere…  
CLARK (2): Is there someone here? I’m not seeing a ship anywhere. Are you safe? Please, if you can’t speak, move, I’ll hear you.

Panel 3: Closer on his face, suddenly wide-eyed with realization. His pupils are very, very lightly glowing, so lightly you’d have to be paying close attention to notice – right eye green, left eye red. Same small inset panel, but the red point is starting to glow brightly, and this inset panel is vibrating a bit.  
CLARK: I’m…  
CLARK (narration): And it less time than it takes to think, I see the point that the oxygen and heartbeat are spiraling out of, and I there’s a burning behind my eyes as I pick up another frequency extending out of it through planes even I don’t have names for –

Panel 4: We’re behind him as his cape starts to blow back, setting one foot back to brace himself. Red light starts to pour out of the point in front of him; flecks of other colors extend out of the center point like a prism, particularly a whitish gold. The whole panel has the vibrating/blur effect, though only slightly.  
CLARK (narration): - Bleed. The medium separating universes from one another, pouring out of a puncture wound on existence.  
CLARK (narration) (2): This is an entry point…  
CLARK (narration) (3): This is a breach from ANOTHER REALITY!

Panel 5: The light is blinding now; we’re just barely seeing Superman through this from the waist up from his right side, his arms raised in front of him to try and block out the light, eyes closed, teeth gritted. The panel’s vibrating pretty harshly.  
CLARK: LISTEN TO ME! WHATEVER THIS IS, I’M NOT LETTING YOU THROUGH TO HURT ANYONE!  
CLARK (2): BUT I’M NOT HERE TO FIGHT! I TOLD YOU, I’M HERE TO HELP! JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!

PAGE 3: 3 panels; two small panels up top, one taking up the rest of what’s essentially a splash page.

Panel 1: Superman’s in the same position as in the last panel, though now we’re in front of him, close on his face. The light and vibrations, while still present, are starting to die down.  
CLARK: JUST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!

Panel 2: Same view, but he’s lowering his arms and opening his eyes, still tensed up but starting to realize he’s not under attack. The vibrations are gone, the light is all but.  
CLARK: Who are…

Panel 3: Clark’s in the background of the shot, arms lowering further. He’s hunkered down, one foot still behind the other, eyes wide and mouth hanging open a bit – he’s all but in a state of shock. Standing in front of him in the foreground of the panel, in a mini-crater like half a globe’s been cleanly cut from the ground, steam coming from it and the new arrival…is Superman. The classic Superman. Trunks, belt, cape blowing in just the right direction that you can see the S symbol on his back, built like a Greek god sculpted from marble rather than the lean but wiry Clark (in the McGuiness/Quitely beefy country boy tradition), and Superman’s a few inches taller to boot. He’s hovering a couple inches above the crater (though his feet aren’t dipping down, they’re firmly planted on the air), standing in a perfectly neutral pose, looking slightly up into the sky, his expression neutral, inscrutable.  
CLARK: …you?  
Title: IT’S SUPERMAN  
Creator credits

PAGE 4: 5 panels. Size as needed.

Panel 1: Zoomed out a bit as Clark (the New 52/Rebirth Superman) reaches towards Superman (the other; the Clark and Superman designations will mean this throughout the issue script-wise, even if they refer to themselves otherwise), his expression only slightly changed as his eyes narrow and his brows furrow, incredulous but still shocked. Superman hasn’t moved in the slightest.  
CLARK (narration): This isn’t real. Everything I’m seeing is screaming at me that he isn’t real.  
CAPTION 2: I’ve met Kryptonians from other universes before, but even if they were radically different, they were still recognizable.

Panel 2: Medium shot of Superman, turning his head, slowly becoming aware and alert that he’s being addressed.  
CLARK (narration): He’s NOT from Krypton. The fabric of his uniform isn’t from there, or Earth, or ANYWHERE else I’ve come across. His skin is a slightly different texture, electricity is going through his brain in patterns I’ve never seen before. His DNA code is completely wrong.  
CLARK (Off-panel): Ha-La.

Panel 3: Both of them in profile, Clark on the left, Superman on the right. Clark’s looking almost hopefully at his counterpart, Superman confused and probing, probably scanning Clark the same way he’s being looked at.  
CLARK (narration): But it’s the symbol. The way he carries himself. His eyes.  
CLARK: El…El-Krypton?

Panel 4: Over Clark’s shoulder, looking at Superman, he’s staring off a bit into space again. His previous expression is starting to fade away. He looks almost sad.  
CLARK (narration): And the stitching…  
CLARK (small text): Don El?  
CLARK (narration) (2) Ma’s.  
SUPERMAN: Yes. Krypton. I’m from Krypton.  
SUPERMAN (2): I was Kal-El.

Panel 5: Close on Clark’s face, looking at him with a mixture of wonderment and curiosity and sadness – he knows in his heart what the man’s about to say next.  
SUPERMAN (Off-panel): I was Superman.  
SUPERMAN (2) (Off-panel): But I don’t remember which Superman I was, anymore.  
SUPERMAN (3): Are you Superman too? Can you help me?

PAGE 5: 6 panels. 1-4 are horizontal panels, 5-6 are side-by-side on the bottom.

Panel 1: Clark and Superman a ways off in the distance, walking towards the reader across the ice; for this page, until the last two panels, the angle of the shot won’t change, they’ll just be getting closer. Superman’s massaging his temple a bit here with his eyes closed, his thoughts coming back to him and with a headache in tow. While it shouldn’t be immediately obvious unless you’re looking for it, his appearance has changed very slightly. His hair is a little messier; he’s a little taller, a little slimmer; the colors of his suit are a touch darker; his belt buckle is now in the s-shield shape; more in the mode of Pete Woods’ Superman in Up, Up and Away! than the guy we saw on the last page. Clark has his hand behind his head, looking apologetic. Clark’s on the left side of the panel, Superman on the right.  
CLARK: –feel I should apologize about yelling before. I’ve met other…versions of myself before. It didn’t always go well. Like Bizarro, if you’ve ever met him.  
SUPERMAN: Or Ultraman. I remember them.  
SUPERMAN (2): I remember my parents, too. And Smallville, and the way the air tasted different in Metropolis when I first moved there.  
SUPERMAN (3): I remember a life.

Panel 2: Closer now, Superman’s got his head on visibly straighter as his thoughts are collected properly, he’s got that “I know better than you do, but I’m not judging you for it, and I’m gonna let you in on the joke” Superman smile on his face as he looks at Clark, striding forward with a more purposeful gait now. Clark in turn is looking at him with wide eyes and an open-mouthed smile, as if a buddy’s reaching the best part of a truly wild story. They’re at ease with one another.  
SUPERMAN: …so the singularity opened up, and I managed to ride the shockwave when it all came apart halfway back to Earth.  
CLARK: I can’t…I believe you, but really fought a Sun-Eater? Even Brainy and the rest of the Legion’d only heard tall tales about them.  
SUPERMAN (2): Heh. Tell me, have you met Solaris?

Panel 3: Closer again, their heights pretty much taking us from the top to the bottom of the panel now; Clark’s looking at Superman a bit credulously, as if he thinks he’s being kind of a wiseass for taking what he’s saying like this. Superman meanwhile has his hand partially over his mouth, but between the corner of his grin and the narrowing of his eyes we can tell it’s hard for him to keep a straight face here.  
SUPERMAN: All the same I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I have to admit the thought of me and Diana…  
CLARK: It should be alright, but yeah. Life’s been chaotic lately; I think Lois can tell something’s going on. I wish I could just talk with her about it, but–  
CLARK (2): …WHAT?

Panel 4: Closer, a medium shot of the two of them at this point; Superman’s turned towards Clark with the reassuring Superman smile, Clark’s looking off into the distance a bit as he ponders the situation.  
SUPERMAN: Well, you certainly seem to have a straighter head on your shoulders than I did at your age. For what it’s worth, it sounds to me like you’re doing just fine.  
CLARK: Thanks; that means a lot coming from you.  
CLARK (2): And it sounds like your own head’s gotten pretty straightened out, so I do have to ask again:

Panel 5: A close-up shot on Clark’s face; he’s looking down (eyeline’s glancing a little above the bottom-left corner of the panel) with his mouth just open enough to show some teeth, his eyes somewhat narrowed. Lost in thought a bit, almost worried about whatever the answer could bring. On the right side of the panel, flecks of whitish gold light (the same that we saw in the Bleed earlier) are gently floating in from where Superman is off-panel; they’re actually emanating from Superman ala Miracleman’s ‘twinkle effect’, but rather than looking like stars or fireflies, I’m sort of thinking of a vibe reminiscent of the “shattered light” effect you get in stuff like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy (I’m sure I can dig up some reference if you’re not familiar).  
CLARK: Do you know who you are? What’s going on?  
SUPERMAN (Off-panel): Yes.

Panel 6: Same shot, but Clark’s whipping his head around to look to the left, startled as he realizes something incredible is happening.  
SUPERMAN (Off-panel): Yes, I remember just fine now.

PAGE 6: The 4-panel page is sliced vertically into thirds – 1 and 4 each take up a third, the middle third is split horizontally between 2 and 3.

Panel 1: Clark on the left side stands shocked and agape, back angled towards us (though we can still see part of his face) as he takes in the baffling sight of Superman on the right…who has become the golden Prime Superman of DC One million, shedding light and serenely addressing his other self, even as he continues walking towards the right.  
SUPERMAN: I’m afraid I have to apologize; there’s been a bit of a mistake, and I’m going to need your help.  
SUPERMAN (2): In my incarnation circa 85,289 AD, I help protect the local dimensional curve of the hypertimestream from my solar Fortress of Solitude alongside my wife and the other inhabitants of New Krypton. Today, that never-ending battle took me to your reality.

Panel 2: A sudden shift in styles for this panel; from naturalism to a hieroglyphic vibe, as if we’re seeing a centuries-after-the-fact storybook retelling of an ancient mythological epic. We’re amidst a field of stars, and in the lower-left corner of the panel is Superman Prime, residing in a golden circle standing in for the sun, angling as if to fly out of it with his outstretched fingers almost grazing the edge of it, a neutral expression on his face. In the upper-right corner, mirroring him, is the Time Monster. What exactly it looks like is something we can figure out together, but what I’m picturing is a nude (though conveniently flat as a Ken doll) man of sorts, about as tall as Superman, that ages as you progress up its body. It has disproportionately oversized baby feet that fade up into hairless juvenile legs, a hairy adult midsection, a wrinkled and sunken chest, a necrotic neck and upper jaw, and from its upper-lip to the top of its head is all skull; from its belly-button extends an umbilical cord that turns into a scythe held aloft. I recognize a screaming skull-faced man with baby feet and an umbilical scythe could at least as easily be the stuff of comedy as well as nightmares, but executed right I think there could be a sort of primal discomfort to this thing, residing right at the uncanny valley of horror where it’s difficult to even process this thing and its absurdly vile existence; in any case, as I said we’ll figure it out together. The Time Monster is screaming in agony and rage, extending its free hand in the direction of Superman with its fingers splayed out, residing at the center of a black circle that represents the rotting dark star it dwells within. Outside their respective suns, primitive glyphs of lightning bolts colored the whitish-gold of Prime’s starshine emanate just past where their fingers and sun-circles end, crashing into one another amidst the starscape.  
SUPERMAN (narration): It was…complex, but I managed to rescue your continuum just in time.

Panel 3: Back to our normal style, as we see Superman Prime lost in the Bleed, writhing in agony; superimposed on top of him are as many other Supermen and Superwomen as you feel like shoving in on top (this can even be old art, just so long as it fits the image and they’re in clear pain).  
SUPERMAN (narration): Unfortunately – and you know this as well as anyone – lashing out with our powers can be dangerous if even the slightest miscalculation is made.  
SUPERMAN (narration) (2): In banishing the threat, I cracked through local spacetime into the Bleed.

Panel 4: A direct continuation of panel 1, both Supermen are walking to the right with purpose as the mission becomes clear; Clark is facing towards him to the extent that we can no longer see his face, while Superman Prime has progressed from putting out light to actively shedding his golden exterior; bits of starshine are flecking off of him, to reveal weathered pink skin on his face, his suit revealed in chunks under the gold to be black and white.  
CLARK (small text): Cracked?  
SUPERMAN: It threw me across the universe from the source fracture, where you found me.  
SUPERMAN (2): Left unmoored from hypertime, I’m drawing in other versions of us from the expanse of the multiverse; unabated, the fracture will tear through your universe. It’s hard to put it in 3D terms, but I need to return to it, reintegrate, and put everything back where it belongs.

PAGE 7: 4 panels, panel 1 on the left is the same size as panel 1 of the previous page to keep the momentum going.

Panel 1: The last of the sunskin is blowing off of him like a dandelion in a breeze; we can see that Superman has become the version of Batman Beyond’s future in “The Call”. He continues Prime’s forward stride, no longer even looking back at Clark, all business; Clark for that matter just looks utterly gobsmacked as he follows right behind him.  
SUPERMAN: We’re all receiving the same basic input, so you should be able to work with us so long as you stay on top of the shifts.  
SUPERMAN (2): I don’t know how familiar you are with this kind of situation, but I’m gonna need you on your A-game if we’re going to get out of this situation with your universe intact.

Panel 2: A somewhat distant shot of the two Supermen, though one is left alone; Superman Beyond has already rocketed upwards, a black and white speed streak the only thing left of him with some dirt and rubble kicked up by the force of take-off.  
SUPERMAN (off-panel): You’ll have to keep up, kid.

Panel 3: The same shot, with our ‘native’ Superman left looking upwards, processing everything presented to him.

Panel 4: The same shot again, but now our Superman rockets up after him in the same fashion, leaving behind his own trail of red and blue.  
CLARK (narration): Well.

PAGE 8: 6 panels

Panel 1: Twin streaks of light exit our galaxy.  
CLARK (narration): “The local dimensional curve of the hypertimestream.” What the hell am I doing here?

Panel 2: Fairly close on Clark in the classic Superman-flying-with-both-his-arms-out-balled-up-in-fists pose, with the stars stretching in the background as he’s left lightspeed far behind.  
CLARK (narration): I’m going to have to trust that he’s as certain as he seems, because for all I’ve seen, I don’t think I’ve been a part of something on a scale quite like this before.

Panel 3: We’re right in front of the Supermen skipping across the universe; Superman Beyond’s on the right in the forefront, his brow knit up in grim determination. Behind him to the left is Clark, same pose as before.  
CLARK (narration): Is this going to be my life someday, like theirs? The fate of all that is just another Wednesday team-up? Am I going to measure up to THAT?

Panel 4: The same shot, but closer on Clark now; while his expression is mostly unchanged, one of his eyebrows is arched just a touch upwards.  
CLARK (narration): ...still though. “Kid?”  
SUPERMAN (off-panel) (this word balloon is actually slightly covering the very end of Clark’s caption box, though we can still tell it’s a question mark finishing off “kid”): We’re here.

Panel 5: A ways in front of the pair, Superman Beyond has already come to a stop, floating casually in the abyss as he looks, in an expression of cold examination that could be mistaken for boredom, at an unseen sight a ways in front of and below him. Right behind him, Clark comes to a much more sudden stop, his cape flapping up behind him, his arms and legs tucked in a bit.  
SUPERMAN: Your Justice League communicator should be picking me up through the vacuum; do you have them yet on your Earth?  
CLARK: Reading you loud and clear, but what are you seeing?

Panel 6: Close on Clark’s face, wide-eyed with realization. Those eyes, incidentally, are altered as they were when looking into the Bleed; not red-and-green glowing this time, but a faint gold.  
SUPERMAN (off-panel): Fracture’s not on any of the normal frequencies, so you’re going to have to stretch yourself. You saw the Bleed before, you should be able to –  
CLARK: I see it.  
CLARK (2): God… 

PAGE 9: 4 panels, with the first one being a near-splash that’s going to take up most of the page and having two small inset panels.

Panel 1: A titanic, outside-view of a solar system, all but perhaps a gas giant or two invisibly miniscule this far out. At its center is recognizably the black star that the Time Monster lived in the heart of, all too real now, a thin white glow denoting its borders. Cascading out from the center of the sun are lightning bolts of Prime’s distinctive whitish-gold, firing off wildly into space in a few different directions. The Supermen hang suspended in nothingness in the foreground, small figure facing the immensity.  
CLARK (narration): I have to believe he’s just not letting the shock of it reach his face.  
CLARK (narration) (2): And even if I really do become like them someday…lord, I hope I let it, if I keep seeing sights like this.  
CLARK (narration) (3): Molten bolts of foreign timestuff, firing from the heart of a black star at the speed of light, out into…  
CLARK (narration) (4): …no.  
Inset Panel 1: Just next to the last caption, extremely tight on Clark’s eyes, widened with horror. This panel is surrounded by red borders, and the right and left sides of it actually trail off underneath, down and to the right a ways, landing below one of the lightning bolts and turning into another rectangle, forming…  
Inset Panel 2: The panel encloses a chunk of space, but within that chunk is a Venn diagram shape to indicate we’re seeing through Clark’s telescopic vision; that shape is its own image of a purple-tinted planet soon to be in the path of the bolt.

Panel 2: Medium on the two Supermen at a slight angle. Superman Beyond has his serious face on to the right, thinking through his options. Clark’s got his fists balled up and his mouth hanging open, he’s ready to go go GO.  
CLARK: 4 billion people.  
SUPERMAN: Just saw, glad you caught it. We only have minutes, so any ideas are welcome.  
CLARK (2): We have to move it out of the path.

Panel 3: Further out and down, Clark while not much changing his posture is tilting his orientation downwards, in the direction of the planet. Superman, who’s remained in the same spot, is looking down at him, calmly but sternly barking an order at him like an annoyed parent.  
SUPERMAN: No. Any mistake and you’d kill them just as easily that way. We need a safer option.  
CLARK: Like you said, we have minutes, and even this we’d barely be able to pull off in time.  
SUPERMAN (2): There’s no time to argue this, Clark.  
CLARK (2): You’re right.

 

Panel 4: Behind Superman as Clark blitzes downwards towards the planet in an arc; Superman’s slightly taken aback, and none too pleased that he seems to now have another problem on his plate.  
CLARK: They need us RIGHT NOW, Superman.

PAGE 10: 6 panels

Panel 1: Down on the surface of the alien world, looking up. The alien design and architecture I’ll leave up to you (with the latter I’m picturing something organic-looking, with green ‘pods’ growing out of the sides that shadows indicate people dwell within; for the aliens themselves I imagine some sort of anteater-like tube on their faces for drawing moisture from the ground, since the planet’s solid purple with no bodies of water visible from space), but one of the creatures is gesturing upwards as it looks up in the pastel yellow sky at the red-blue slice across the sky.  
CLARK (narration): You were thinking about scale before? Here’s one you know just fine:  
CLARK (narration) (2): Get this right or EVERYONE DIES.

Panel 2: Out in the purple desert, a firey alien comet smashes into the ground and burrows.  
CLARK (narration): Back up that big talk, Kent. Keep it in the goldilocks zone, don’t move it so fast you ignite the atmosphere…

Panel 3: Underground with Clark, he looks to be in near-total darkness, with only a faint red glow to the right of him from the planet’s core providing illumination as he pushes against the mantle. His back is to it, shoving with his hands braced on either side of him, his eyes closed and his lips pulled inward as he sweats: this is essentially lifting and backing a huge loaded box into the back of a truck, except it’s several sextillion tons and if he cocks it up billions die by lighting or fire or vacuum.  
CLARK (narration): Don’t jostle it, don’t tear it apart, don’t…  
CLARK (narration) (2): Please don’t…

Panel 4: Basically the same angle, closer in towards Clark as he opens an eye in surprise when a black-gloved in the foreground jams itself into the mantle.

Panel 5: As if we could stand in front of them and see through the rock (though both their hands are off-panel so as not to spoil the illusion), Clark and Superman push as one. Clark’s pretty much the same as before, though his head’s tilted enough that we can see his face. Superman Beyond’s flying at it straight-on and pushing entirely with his hands, one of his knees bent up. He’s not straining as hard as Clark, but his jaw’s drawn so tight it looks like it’s about to crack.  
CLARK (narration): Thanks.

Panel 6: A view of the planet, occupying only about a marble’s worth of space; there’s no visible sign that it’s moving, but a few planetary widths away the lightning passes by harmlessly.

PAGE 11: 7 panels, arrange however works

Panel 1: The pair emerge from the tunnel Clark drilled, both drenched in a coat of magma and steaming; Clark lands on the ground, recovering from the exertion. Superman – now become the Earth-Two version (circa COIE/Infinite Crisis, with the gray temples and the more defined border on the S-shield) – shoots out with his arms extending from his sides, in a fury and looking every inch an avenging angel.  
SUPERMAN: The HELL were you thinking, son?!  
CLARK: I’ll >kaff< be sure to let these people know how glad you are it all worked out when I move it back.

Panel 2: An over-the-shoulder shot of Grandpa Superman, pointing down accusingly at Clark, who’s now floating up towards him indignantly, sloughing off the magma.  
SUPERMAN: You wear that shield, you don’t go tear-assing around without a thought! People can’t afford for you to be reckless!  
CLARK: From what I understand the golden future one was the one who made a mistake.

Panel 3: They’re level now, Clark crossing his arms, with that one Superman “I’m not mad, but I am disappointed” face. Grandpa’s continuing the accusation; we’re at a slight angle to them, looking up from underneath.  
CLARK: And I still trusted him more than the last couple of you. If I didn’t go when I did…  
SUPERMAN: And if you make the mistake next time, and another Superman isn’t here to help you?

Panel 4: We’re level with them now, looking at them in profile; Clark hasn’t changed, Superman’s pulled his hand back to his side but his face has moved from yelling to cutting annoyance.  
CLARK: Then I’ll try, and I’ll do what I can.  
SUPERMAN: Don’t just “try”. They need your best.  
CLARK (2): I thought you had to go?

Panel 5: The exact same shot.

Panel 6: Superman’s turned around, about to fly back up into space, peeved that he apparently hasn’t gotten through to this stupid kid. Clark meanwhile is floating up towards him with an unreadably neutral expression.  
SUPERMAN (small text): Ff  
SUPERMAN (small text) (2): Young people.

Panel 7: Very, very close on Clark’s hand as he grabs Superman’s shoulder.  
CLARK (off-panel): Look,

PAGE 12: 5 panels, the first and last are horizontal

Panel 1: Space; on the leftmost side of the panel, there’s a barely visible purple dot. A sliver of a red-blue line extends across the panel to the rightmost side, where there’s an equally small green dot it connects with.

Panel 2: Clark’s in a sinkhole, and he is WRECKED from that hit; suit’s torn up, bleeding, eye swelling shut as he might have an orbital fracture.  
CLARK (small text): aaahh~*  
SUPERMAN (off-panel): I’m sorry. You caught me off-guard.

Panel 3: Looking up from around Clark’s perspective, we now see floating above him the Kingdom Come Superman, looking down at him with a mix of pity and a schoolteacher imparting a lesson to a difficult pupil. We now see trees peeking their foliage above the rim of the impact crater, the sky an aqua blue with the stars showing. Clark’s forcing himself up onto his hands, facing the ground and us, eyes not glowing but the irises solidly red and teeth clenched in frustration.  
SUPERMAN: But frankly, I’m wondering if I’m not still needed here.  
SUPERMAN (2): You need to listen to me, young man: you have responsibilities, and I’m not sure you can live up to them if the worst comes.

Panel 4: Above Grandpa-est Superman, as Clark suddenly charges up towards him, not an abstract red-blue comet like before but still himself, albeit rendered fuzzy by his velocity.  
SUPERMAN: They need heroes, not dangerous children.

Panel 5: Superman and Clark are mere stick figures on the horizon, colliding with one another; the compression wave visibly ripples through the air, uprooting nearby trees and blowing others to a 45-degree angle as if in the midst of a hurricane.

PAGE 13: 9 panel grid

Panel 1: We’re right behind Superman’s hand, which simply caught Clark’s blow. Clark’s mouth is hanging a bit open, disbelieving.

Panel 2: A long shot of the two of them, Superman looking at Clark as if he’s insulted by his failure as he maintains his grip.  
SUPERMAN: That was VERY foolish.

Panel 3: Still held in place, Clark goes for broke and just punches Superman square in the jaw with his free hand, doing absolutely nothing.  
CLARK: – out of your mind –

Panel 4: Clark pulls his hand back; we can see he’s skinned his knuckles badly with that punch. Superman, meanwhile, is pulling his own free hand back, his open palm clearly aimed to land in Clark’s chest when he shoves it forward.

Panel 5: A view from the upper-atmosphere, with the planet (mostly green, a few scattered oceans) taking up the bottom half of the panel and extending well past it. There’s a tiny visible impact at one point, with a red line arcing slightly upwards away from it before landing several thousand miles away.

Panel 6: Same shot, but our view of the planet has been rotated significantly clockwise; the end of the original arc is still visible on the leftmost side, but the red line has bounced, forming another arc – closer to the ground this time – before landing again on the right.

Panel 7: We’re pulling back our view further, just about into space proper now (though we still aren’t seeing the entirety of the planet) and rotated further; the line hasn’t bounced again, but is now skidding across the circumference of the planet with an aura at the front of it like a ship going through reentry, leaving a scar across the surface as Clark finally slows down on the other side of the planet.

Panel 8: We’re back with Clark, seeing him from several yards away as he skids across the surface face-first, weakly holding an arm in front of him to try and take some of the impact.

Panel 9: Same basic shot (even if he’s probably gone a few hundred more miles), but he’s no longer on the ground, instead shooting upwards with the same sort of blur we saw on the last page as he charged towards Superman, his arms and legs positioned so that we can tell he used his momentum to leapfrog in the direction of the sky.

PAGE 14: A splash page with three inset panels.

Panel 1: In space, a wide, wide shot of the planet. At the top of the planet, the red line of Clark is bounding upwards into space, and circles around the planet three times (actually countless times forming three major blurry circles; we can tell he’s spinning around far more, but it amounts to three) arcing ever downwards before making impact on the opposite side of the world at the bottom of the panel.  
CLARK (narration) (on the top of the page, just above his point of takeoff): Twenty times lightspeed.  
CLARK (narration) (on the left side of the middle of the page, just under the first circle) (2): Five hundred thousand.  
CLARK (narration) (the equivalent to the last caption, on the opposite side of the page) (3): More more more more more…  
CLARK (narration) (at the bottom of the page, right above the second circle and under his point of impact) (4): Good enough.

Inset Panel 1: This is the start of three panels stacked on top of one another, overlaid across the planet. Superman’s lecturing at the sky, red ribbons visible among the stars as Clark builds up momentum.  
SUPERMAN: I know you can hear me. You can’t run away from this.  
SUPERMAN (2): You described your life before as chaotic, and I can’t say I’m surprised.

Inset Panel 2: Closer on Superman as he turns, continuing his spiel.  
SUPERMAN: When the Bleed opened up, your first thought was the possibility that you’d get in a fight. That tells me all I need to know.  
SUPERMAN (2): I’ve seen what happens when boys and girls with power they haven’t earned run wild, even if they think they mean well.

Inset Panel 3: Close on Superman’s disapproving face, as a living comet speeds towards him from behind.  
SUPERMAN: That won’t happen here on my watch. I’m going to find a better way.  
SUPERMAN (2): Now come out. Don’t be a coward.

PAGE 15: 4 panels

Panel 1: Clark and Superman are in space now, Clark ramming into his midsection, Superman actually feeling that hit, leaving the planet well behind them.

Panel 2: Superman’s hand is on Clark’s face, trying to push him off; with his uncovered eye, Clark blasts Superman straight in the shield with heat vision. Superman’s phasing a bit, halfway between steaming and speed-blurring.  
SUPERMAN: knew it, out of control  
CLARK: hypocrite

Panel 3: They arc downwards, spiraling around and around, smacking directly into the side of a passing comet.

Panel 4: They’re both forcing themselves up and getting their bearings – the surroundings are strangely beautiful, the surface of the comet solid shining ice, the stars twinkling, the black sun shining in the background. Notably, Superman seems to be half-shifted, the blurring intensifying; we can tell he’s back to some version of ‘classic’ based on the color scheme, but everything else is too fuzzy to make out.  
CLARK: You’re leaving this world right now.  
SUPERMAN: Not to you.

PAGE 16: 5 panels, first 4 on a grid, the fifth horizontal underneath.

Panel 1: The pair shoot upwards, colliding just above the surface, Clark getting a good shot to the jaw against Superman, who’s become the black-shielded 40s man of Fleischer/New Frontier.  
CLARK (narration): He’s breaking down faster now…seems weaker now, but I think this is going to come down to luck and which one of them I get…

Panel 2: Clark follows up, kneeing him in the stomach, but Superman – who’s now shifted to the aged days of Red Son – is simultaneously reaching for his throat, his eyes ablaze with heat vision about to be unleashed.  
CLARK (narration): I can see the bleed pouring out of him on every frequency, but no matter how hard I try he just won’t let go…

Panel 3: Close on their faces, as Superman pulls Clark in by the neck. Superman’s now the Black Lantern Earth-2 guy, an empty-eyed zombie howling right in Clark’s angry face with a savage hunger.  
CLARK (narration): And I find myself thinking of black holes.

Panel 4: Firing downwards like a meteor towards the surface of the comet, Clark’s letting out his last gust of freeze breath even as Superman continues to choke them. They both leave speed trails behind them, but while Clark’s a solid blur, Superman’s leaving a couple afterimages of the Electric Blue dude, Injustice, and at the bottom where Clark is an approximation again of classic.

Panel 5: And they smack right into the side of it, kicking up ice.

PAGE 17: 6 panels.

Panel 1: Clark’s getting up, brushing ice and dust out of his hair, ready to get right back into it.  
SUPERMAN (off-panel): I’m sorry…

Panel 2: Superman’s completely breaking apart – while the classic take is standing there, he’s surrounded and overlapped with phantoms of Supermen of all stripes, each having eyes set afire with Bleed energy.  
SUPERMAN: That was u-unreasonable of me…

Panel 3: A distant profile shot of the two. Superman’s holding position, Clark is visibly concerned, hovering towards him with an arm outreached.  
CLARK (small text): Rao.  
SUPERMAN: It’s just…we can’t make mistakes, and you’re going to have to carry it yourself…

Panel 4: A similar shot, Superman’s floating backwards a bit now, himself becoming a phantom, Supermen faintly trailing behind him towards the stars like a breeze is blowing away his every self.  
SUPERMAN: Can you do that?  
CLARK: For god’s sake, it doesn’t matter right now!

Panel 5: Clark flies up after him, desperate, hand outstretched.  
CLARK: Please, just LET ME HELP YOU!

Panel 6: A close up as Clark grabs Superman’s hand…and that hand is solid now, and we can see the blue sleeve of his costume has a lightly ridged cuff.  
SUPERMAN (off-panel): That’s the ticket!

PAGE 18: 4 panels

Panel 1: We’re right behind Clark, still holding on to Superman’s hand as they set down gently on the ground, though they’ve both come to a stop now, the black sun shining in the background among the stars, lightning still shooting out of it. Superman himself has stabilized completely; he’s finally the Golden Age Superman, not the Earth-Two elder we saw before, but the full-on Shuster figure with the police-badge S-shield, the lace-up boots, and the seemingly-closed eyes. He’s looking at a surprised Superman with a beaming toothy smile, his free arm at his side balled up in a fist not as a threat, but as a part of his perpetual Supermanly pose with his legs wide and his chest broadened.  
SUPERMAN: Thanks, friend!  
SUPERMAN (2): It was touch-and-go there for a minute, but it seems pulling people out of jams in the nick of time is just what we do!

Panel 2: It’s a profile shot again as Clark’s backed off a bit. Superman’s got his fists at his hips now, in Full Superman Pose, keeping up the smile with none of the condescension some of the others had undercutting his sincerity.  
SUPERMAN: Well! The other fellows had a lot to say, but what do you think of all this?  
SUPERMAN (2): Think there’s a future in this business for you?

Panel 3: Close on Clark as he tries to get it all right in his head once and for all; he looks a bit self-doubting, even as he’s sincere in the conviction he’s expressing.  
CLARK: …I don’t know if I can be all people need. That I can never fail. I don’t know that anyone I saw today can, either.  
CLARK (2): But I’ll try and do my best. I’ll ALWAYS try.

Panel 4: Close on Superman’s face. Same expression as before, but his mouth while still smiling is closed now.  
CLARK (off-panel): Is that enough, Clark?

PAGE 19: 6 panels

Panel 1: Superman’s starting to turn around; his legs and lower torso are facing in the direction of the sun, but he’s tilting his chest around to keep on facing Clark. His expression back to all-out beaming, he raises a single hand in salute towards him.  
SUPERMAN: Of course it is, Superman.  
SUPERMAN (2): That’s all anyone can ever do!

Panel 2: We’re behind Clark, watching as he looks with awe as Superman leaps, not flies, up, up, and away in the direction of the star, which cascades with lightning at its heart more intensely than ever.

Panel 3: The entire panel is now suffused with the whitish-gold light of the lightning; there’s the very vaguest silhouette of Clark, in the exact same position and angle as the last panel.

Panel 4: Identical to panel 2, but now Superman and the lightning are gone; the universe is safe.

Panel 5: A close, profile shot on Clark, looking up, smiling serenely.

Panel 6: The same shot, but Clark’s gone now; no speed effect this time from his departure, but some flecks of ice are kicked up off the ground, hanging in mid-air.

PAGE 20: A gorgeous, full-page splash. Superman’s arcing down from the planet and then back up towards us, a single arm outstretched with his knee bent and a smile on his face, the iconic Superman Flying pose with the black sun shining on the right. Behind him, as spirits, fly as many Supermen from this story and any others you can think of, smiling with pride, a procession honoring their own.

**Author's Note:**

> If me writing about Superman some more based on this appeals (along with comics in general), you can check out more of my stuff at davidmann95.tumblr.com. I don't know if I'll post here again - I have sort of the inkling of another script I might be good with doing and letting out into the wild, so to speak, it depends on a few things - but in any case, again, I hope you enjoyed!


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